200 Watt versus 300 to 400 Watt Amplifier Comps

I'm from the "more power is better" camp. In reality, though, I've never felt I could justify the cost for a high-quality amplifier rated at more than 200 wpc.

Would I LOVE to own the 1000 wpc Boulder 2050 monoblocks? You bet! Is it in my budget? Absolutely not!

As a point of reference, I think my 200 wpc McIntosh MA-6900 drives my Vandersteen 3A Signatures about as far as they can go. Since the Mac has the power meters, I can, and do from time to time, monitor how much juice is being put out, and it RARELY draws beyond 100 watts. I've NEVER seen the meters top out at the full rated power level.

It really depends on the size of your room, desired volume, and type of source material. If you have a really big room, then I'd go with as much power as possible. At some point, though, the 913's will be your limiting factor.

It would depend on the type of music that you are listening to, the size of your room, how far your listening position is from the speakers, what the given spl is that you are using as a reference, etc... Having said that, so long as the quality remains consistent, more power will never hurt you. Given the that quality costs money, i would rather have an amp that was of slightly lower power and higher bias than higher power and lower bias. A "good" amp should remain in Class A for at least 5-6 watts ( at the very minimum and preferably more like 8 - 10 watts ) before switching over to Class B for the high power sessions. As such, it is possible to move backwards in quality as one goes up in quantity since many "reasonably priced" power amps that are quite muscular are not biased this high. Big amps with high bias typically cost a few pennies more. Sean
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In my experience moving up in amp quality provides much more than volume. I don't listen any louder than I used to listen, but the level of detail and other benefits make the better amps well worth the money. I really think there are very few people who actually push their amps and speakers anywhere never their limits. One of the biggest benefit of the higher powered amp in the power reserves.

As for the issue of power handling; your speakers are rated at 200 watts continuous. An amp that is rated at 200 watts will certainly peak much higher, but for the most part you will not even begin to approach those levels in the real world. Unless of course you are a wildman.

Nrchy: driving low impedance low sensitivity loads, 200 wpc @ 8 ohms is a drop in the bucket. Since most amps do not "double down", you might end up with about 350 wpc @ 4 and 450 - 500 wpc @ 2 ohms in many cases. I do have amps that double down and are rated at 200 wpc @ 8 ohms. I also have several speakers that can take everything that they can deliver and cry for more. It is all a system by system situation and there really is no "right" answer until everything is factored in. That's why i said "so long as quality does not suffer, more power is never a bad thing" ( or something like that....) Sean
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